Ventilated reducing garment



Feb. 27, 1951 LA REINA R HAMMOND 2,543,317

VENTILATED REDUCING GARMENT 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 8, 1947 INVENTOR. [a iF/na FA ammona Feb. 27, 1951 LA REINA R. HAMM OND VENTILATED REDUCING GARMENT 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 8, 1947 1N VEN TOR. lal e/na Fflammona WWW/7144 Her 7 Patented Feb. 27, 1951 UNI'l'ED STATES PATENT OFFICE VENTILATED REDUCING GARMENT La Reina R. Hammond, Van Nuys, Calif.

Application April 8, 1947, Serial No. 740,195

1 Claim. 1

Garments which are primarily adapted to reduce obesity by inducing perspiration are usually made of a material which is impervious to air, such as a fabric previously impregnated with rubber. In garments of the character contemplated, the humidity of the air in the space between the body of the user and the garment, rises rapidly, the efiect being substantially a chain reaction, wherein the greater the degree of humidity, the more profuse the degree of perspiration, and hence of humidity, and this condition continues under certain conditions until the person thus attempting to reduce their weight, suffers extreme discomfort, and as a result thereof, will sometimes refuse to longer continue use of the garment, even though this method of weight reduction is generally recognized as being not only highly efficient, but also as being one of the safest methods of weight reduction.

In View of the afore-stated condition generally attendant the use of a reducing garment, I have conceived a novel means to stabilize, as well as localize any given degree of humidity existing in a reducing garment when worn by a person for reducing purpose, and this statement is to be considered as being the prime object of the present invention.

An advantage or" the invention is that the user of a reducing garment may personally manipulate accessories of the garment to maintain a given degree of humidity within the garment, or the said accessories may be manipulated to vent the hot humid and fetid air within the garment in such an amount as to give the wearer a reasonable degree of comfort and yet retain a condition within the garment which is conducive of the end result expected and desired as a result of use thereof,

A further advantage of the improvement resides in the fact that local areas of the body, such as the legs, the arms, shoulders or abdomen may be made subject to a greater degree or amount of perspiration than other parts 01' the body, whereby selected areas thereof may be reduced if an abnormal degree obesity exists in local areas of the body; and,

A still further advantage thereof resides in the fact that the improvement constituting the present invention, may be incorporated in new or old reducing garments with a minimum effort and at a very low cost, and which improvements add to the appearance thereof in a general manner to the distinct advantage of the garment over those garments which do not incorporate the instant invention.

Other features and advantages of the invention may be noted from the accompanying specification, claim, and the detailed drawing thereof.

In the drawing:

Figure l is a modeled view of the garment of this invention showing a zipper type of closure to close vents formed in the garment as a means to decrease or hold in static equilibrium the humidity which normally accumulates in this type of garment.

Figure 2 is a modeled view of a so-called sports type of reducing garment provided with the closable venting means shown in Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a detail showing one method of forming a closure in the sleeve of the garment and which is adapted to encase the wrists; while,

Figure 4 is a view similar to Figure 3 excepting that the closure as here shown is adapted to encase the ankles of the wearer.

Figure 5 is a front-elevational view showing a modification of the zipper type of closure adapted to close the vents of the garment, here a common button is used to form a fastening means to close the vent; while Figure 6 is a sectional elevational view taken substantially on line 5-45, Figure 5 showing construction used in this form of the invention.

Figure 7 is an elevational view of a further modified form of garment vent closing means, here a so-called snap-button is used to hold the vent in closed position; while,

Figure 8 is a sectional elevation thereof taken substantiall on line 8!i, Figure 7.

Figure 9 is an elevational View of a still further modified form of vent closure, here a rotatable segment of a disc is adapted to open and close the garment vent by mere rotation thereof through a one half circle; and

Figure 10 is a mid-sectional view taken along line Ill-IE1, Figure 9 showing detail of construction thereof.

The new and improved reducing garment ii) of this invention is formed of such material as is impervious to moisture and normal breathing therethrough, such as rubberized silk, rayon, and other like or similarly sealed material, the texture of which is of no moment in the present invention, nor is the style or cut of the finished garment of any particular consequence, except that the smarter the lines of the garment, the greater the sense of satisfaction had by a user who wears a garment for reducing purposes, for it goes without saying, that few people care to appear in a garment which merely covers them, regardless of the purpose of the garment.

During the laying out process for each of the component elements to be later sewed together to form the finished whole, certain of the elements such as the front of the vest portion I2, or the sleeves I4 thereof, or the trouser legs 16 at either or both of the near extremities thereof, are formed with openings l8 through the material 2E: of which the garment is formed, and these openings located in the garment either as a matter of standard practice, or by specification, if a tailor made garment is considered, are to be made closable by selectable means such as the so-called zipper closure 22 shown in Figures 1 and 2, or by use of a common button 24 lying concealed back of a pocket member 29. The button 24 being used solely to hold a vent flap 28 in closed position when so desired as a means of preventing waste of body heat and humidity arising from perspiring.

In Figures 7 and 8 I show a slight modification of the closing means used and shown in Figures and 6, here a snap type of closure 38 is adapted to hold the flap 28 in contact with the material of the garment, and in like manner, the flap 28 is concealed within a pocket arrangement of which the element 32 is front thereof.

In Figures 9 and 10, I show a more radical form of closure for the vent or opening 18 in the material of the garment.

In this form of closure, a plastic ring 40 having a flange 42 with perforations or small openings therein, is secured to the material of the garment by sewing, utilizing the perforations il for insertion of a thread 44 through the ring and the material, whereby the two elements are drawn and secured together.

Additionally, the ring 48 is formed with a circumferentially disposed groove 48 extending around the inner face thereof, and which groove lies between the segments -28 and 50 of the ring. The segments 49 and 59 substantially equal onehalf of the face area of the ring, while that portion of the area of the ring 40 which lies above the edge 52 of the segments 48 and 5D, constitutes a passageway 54 in open communication with the opening 18 in the material 2!] of the garment It. A disc segment 58 rotatably positioned upon a stem 58 extending from a finger actuated knob 58 is adapted to swing the disc 56 to and from concealed position between the walls or segments 48 and 59 of the ring as shown in dotted lines 62, whereby the passageway 54 may be closed or opened to control movement of air therethrough.

Use of the garment of this invention and the vent controls thereof may be described as follows.

The user or the one who wears the garment gets into it much in the manner of any one-piece outfit, for the garment insofar as opening and fastening means are concerned, follows standard practice. Once in the garment, the user preferably would close all of the vents or openings I8 by means of drawing the zipper 22 to closed position, or by buttoning, as shown in Figures 5 and 6, or by compressing the snaps as shown in Figures 7 and 8, or by rotating the disc segment '56 to the dotted line position '62, Figures 9 and 10, whereby in this form of closure, the opening I8 is closed to outside influences.

Upon closure of the openings l 8 of which there may be any number, and which may be scattered over the garment adjacent to any portion of the body over which it is desired to exert a degree of temperature control, it will be found that because of natural loss of animal heat, that the body becomes warmer and evaporation of moisture therefrom is retained within the garment thus raising or increasing the amount of humidity in the air which is imprisoned within the garment. This condition literally feeds upon itself, for the higher the humidity, the greater is natures effort to compensate, and this results in increased perspiration, which is of course the end object of wearing the garment, but conditions can arise under which it is desirable to hold a given body condition static against further increase, and this condition may be had by opening one or more of the vents I8 afore-referred, so that from then on an amount of hot, humid and fetid air may move out of the garment, being replaced with fresh cooler air whereby the temperature of the body as a whole, or a given portion thereof remains in a condition of status quo, so long as the garment is worn, or by varying the location of the vents and the location of the open and closed vents, certain portions of the body may be given an extensive or a more extensive heat treatment than other portions thereof, to correct physical abnormalcy insofar as weight is concerned. It is believed that it will be apparent to all who are concerned with the problem of excess weight and the use of reducing garments, that I have conceived a novel, yet simple and practical means to alleviate the near torture that many people heretofore have endured in their weight reducing efforts.

Having thus described my invention, that which I desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

In a one piece non-porous water-proof garment arranged to loosely fit upon the body including the arms and legs and having a snugly fitting yieldable neck band and inturned cufi elements adapted to yieldingly engage the wrists and ankles inwardly of the related appendices of the garment so as to form closed tubular garment portions when in use adapted and arranged to prevent circulation of air therethrough, in combination, a valve element, said valve element being placed in the body of the garment and being adapted and arranged to control an ebb and fiow of air to and from within the garment, said valve element having a body formed of a mouldable material of circular cast form provided with an apertured annular flange upon the periphery thereof whereby said valve may be sewed to said garment, the body of the valve having a semi-circular opening therethrough and having spaced semi-circular wall portions adjacent said opening defining a recess therebetween, and a manually rotatable disc supported by one of said semi-circular walls and being arranged and adapted to be swung to and from within said recess to cover and uncover said semi-circular opening.

LA REINA R. HAMMOND.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,006,373 Thompson July 2, 1935 2,115,974 Harris et a1 May 3, 1938 2,414,845 Wulsin Jan. 28, 1947 

